Friends
Market participants are very indecisive as we wait for tomorrow’s inflation report. Stocks started higher, took a couple of legs lower (down 300 Dow points midday) and then recovered into the close. As we mentioned yesterday, if tomorrow’s number is hot (especially components that are thought to be seeing moderating inflation like shelter and used cars) then the Fed will find itself in a real predicament. Stay tuned.
As for today, by the close the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 9 points to finish the day at 38,883. The S&P 500 was up 7 points to close at 5,209. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 52 points to close at 16,306. Gold was up $16 to trade at $2,367 per ounce, while oil was down $1.15 to trade at $85.28 per barrel WTI.
So, for those keeping score at home, analysts are looking for tomorrow’s CPI number to come in anywhere between 3.3% to 3.5%. We’ll use 3.4% as the number we will be looking for. As always it will be interesting to see how markets react to the number whether hot or cold. We’ll let you know how it all plays out tomorrow.
Have a nice evening everyone.
Jim
